Welcome to the Digi-Tools in Accrual World Podcast, your essential update on UK Accounting Tech News and Fintech News!

This week, Ryan Pearcy and John Toon discuss the strategies shaking up the software world and the latest app updates you need to know about.

First, Ryan speaks with Ben Carter, Product Director for the Small Business Division at Access. Ben shares the vision behind integrating products like Unleashed, MintSoft, and Tradify. He explains their mission to deliver "value in seven minutes" and how they're using AI to revolutionise data onboarding for new trial users.

Then, it's a packed App News segment:

Sumday (Xero): An AI bot has been added to the carbon tracking platform to help analyse data and build sustainability business cases.

AI-Native Payments: Ryan questions if AI-driven automatic payment runs are a genuine innovation or just a buzzword.

Adfin Autopilot: The platform has launched an AI agent to intelligently and automatically chase customer debts.

Karbon & Spotlight: A new integration allows firms to automate the scheduling and generation of Spotlight reports directly from Karbon tasks.

Katana: The inventory tool for manufacturers has introduced a free plan, limited to 30 SKUs and 3 locations.

WorkGuru: The project management tool adds project document templates and an OCR integration with Easy Bills.

Employment Hero: The system now automates the complex calculation of leave entitlement for offboarding employees.

Cyber Attacks: John covers startling research from FreeAgent showing 6 in 10 UK small businesses were hit by a cyber attack last year.

Finally, Kevin Fitzgerald, MD of UK for Employment Hero, returns. He explains the strategic decision to pause and relaunch their bureau program , moving away from a "race to the bottom" on price to a new model focused on integrating HR and payroll services for accounting firms.

This episode is sponsored by Unleashed and Employment Hero.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome to Digi-Tools in Accrual World

03:44 Unleashing Success: Inside the Small Business Division at Access

14:18 App News

14:22 Xero adds Sumday AI sustainability analysis

17:06 AI-native payments promise faster cashflow for firms

20:58 Adfin launches Autopilot automation

23:40 Karbon integrates with Spotlight for automated reporting

25:52 Katana introduces free plan for small manufacturers

27:52 WorkGuru adds templates and purchase orders

30:36 Employment Hero automates leave entitlement on offboarding

32:10 FreeAgent: Three in five small businesses hit by a cyber attack

38:00 Transforming Bureaus: Employment Hero's Approach to Payroll and HR

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